


My Gift For Freya

by persistent_pedantry



Series: The Collected Escapades of Minerva and René Galliard IV [7]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2020-10-17 07:24:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20617214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/persistent_pedantry/pseuds/persistent_pedantry
Summary: As the title suggests, this was a gift for a good friend of mine at the time. Essentially, it's Minerva being gay and annoying: two main traits of hers.





	My Gift For Freya

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Freya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freya/gifts).

> I don't think I have any notes for this one other how I forgot how much I loved this story until now. This was the first display of Minerva's new and improved personality: eccentric, careless, and impulsive. This piece, for many reasons, holds a place in my heart, to drag up a cliché.

Minerva’s mother never used to talk about her childhood — probably because she was never asked. At least, that’s as far as Minerva could recall. She was born in a sacred forest in Johto, apparently, and after a little research, it’s quite easy to figure out that the ‘sacred forest’ would be Ilex Forest: home to the Shrine of Celery, and right next to Route 34, the home for many Ralts— and a Day Care, funnily enough. It’s always possible that she was raised in the Day Care, but Minerva never took the time to think about it, nor ask. It’s a little late, now.

Minerva’s smile dims briefly, shifting on the branch where she had found herself dozing off. Scouting an entirely new region while René does business stuff is a little exhausting, anyone would find. Though, it does have its advan... The smile completely fades, replaced by an annoyed frown; how many trainers amble through here? Don’t they have Flying-types or something? Glancing down, Minerva is admittedly taken back at what definitely wasn’t the normal kid wandering around. It was a woman; well, a young adult, maybe her age. Raven black hair, fairly tanned skin, toned body; definitely not bad looking, but now isn’t the time to be gay.

What the hell is she saying?

It’s always time to be gay.

She was approaching the tree Minerva was resting on, offering countless opportunities, but only a handful that Minerva could do without the chance of injuring herself, or having this region’s police on her, too. Naturally, being Minerva, she was going to pick one of those options just because what’s the the point of risks being there of you’re not going to take them? Adjusting her position, the Gardevoir slowly begins to ready herself to drop down, grinning madly to herself. The woman continues walking, oblivious, with thanks owed to Minerva’s lithe, neat silent frame. In position, Minerva waits for her to be in the perfect position: four, three, two...

Minerva almost loses her balance, landing in a surprisingly comfortable piggyback on the woman’s shoulders. She has to rest a hand on her head briefly to keep herself from falling as she silently thanks whatever god is out there that Gardevoir are light as a species, since she hadn’t taken weight into account. It wouldn’t have been too nice if she broke the poor girl’s spine, especially since necrophilia isn’t her kind of deal. “Wh—? Hey, hey! Get off!” She exclaims, Minerva grinning to herself as she holds on, wrapping her arms loosely around the femme’s neck before feeling a sudden buck, followed by a hand on her arm throwing her off. Minerva lands painfully on her back, grumbling softly as she gets up to see the woman staring at her in stark confusion, a hand resting on a Poké Ball on her belt. After a few moments of staring each other down, Minerva lazily raises a hand to give a brief wave. The woman’s stare turns from confusion to... even more confused, really: bewilderment on the fact that a Gardevoir had just fallen out of a tree, on to her back, and is now waving to her. Gardevoir don’t have a tendency to do that, as far as anyone’s aware. “Good evening,” a feminine voice resounds, clear as day in the woman’s mind, “Nice day for a stroll, isn’t it?”

“I... what?” She questions, watching the Gardevoir carefully. “Did you just ambush me with a piggyback to start a conversation with me, or am I just being delusional?” “Maybe both. I dunno, I’ve only known you for about a minute... yeah, I’d say a minute,” the voice continues, Minerva slowly managing to get up with a grimace. She should have kept her head up and broken her fall; hurts like the devil. Turning to the woman, Minerva gives another, more avid wave. “Anyway, hi. I’m Minerva.” The woman raises a brow, her hand slowly lowering from the ball. “Minerva? As in the Minerva that’s wanted by basically all of Kalos? That Minerva?” “Nope. Not me. That’s another Minerva.”

“You’re an intelligent Gardevoir.”

“And you’re an attractive woman.”

“That’s not important. You’re intelligent, which is rare—“

“How racist.”

_”You’re intelligent—“_

“Oh, sorry.”

“And that’s a rare aspect for Pokémon in general. Sharing the same rare trait and name is pretty coincidental.”

“Gardevoir aren’t very good at naming children.”

“M’hm, and why would the name ‘Minerva’ be so popular?”

“Ancient goddess of knowledge.”

The woman pauses for a while, looking away briefly in thought before shrugging the suspicion off and giving a curt nod to the Gardevoir. “Jodi. I don’t really care if you’re the criminal or not; just stay away from my Pokémon and we’ll be fine.” Minerva clasps her hands happily, hopping briefly on the spot. “Lovely! So, can I take this excuse to flirt needlessly with you? I don’t know Attract anymore, so that makes things a little harder.” “I don’t think a Pokémon getting with a human would be too acceptable,” Jodi protests, Minerva shrugging it off with a mischievous grin. “I always have Hypnosis.” This comment earns a suspicious look from Jodi, leaving Minerva looking rather sheepish after rethinking her statement. Better cool down there, Bill Cosby.

“So... can I get on your back again? It was pretty cool being tall, and it’s a lot easier to speak telepathically when there’s physical contact,” Minerva asks, getting only silence in return until Jodi finally gives a begrudging nod, resulting in a very happy Gardevoir who was nestled contentedly on her back in just bare of two seconds. “Awesome.” She grins, shifting slightly as Jodi rolls her eyes and glances up to the Gardevoir now sitting on her shoulders. This is new. Ambling forward, Minerva looks down to Jodi, getting a touch dizzy by looking forward. She’s not used to this kind of height. “So... hey, tell me about yourself,” she attempts, getting a simple “Nah.” in return. “Fair enough,” Minerva grumbles, “I’m from Kalos. I’m a bit of a celebrity over there, as you probably know. I came over here to scout out the place so maybe R and I can move to Johto for a little while. My mother came from around here, too.” “Huh. Right,” Jodi murmurs, looking up to Minerva to what degree she could. “Personally, I don’t think that moving to another region to continue your crime spree would be liked by many, focusing more on the ‘crime spree’ part. Do you have any plan to where we’re going?” Minerva shrugs, looking down to meet Jodi’s look. “I mean, speaking short-term, I’m pretty sure there’s supposed to be a shrine to Celery around here. I don’t really feel like trying to catch them by myself, since I’m certain that the weird dude with the Dark Balls tried to do that a few years ago.”

Jodi doesn’t say anything for a while, dismissing the ‘Celery’ comment and simply nodding as she continues to walk through the forest. After a short while, she stops, looking back up to Minerva. “Wait, you mean the Marauder guy? The one who basically destroyed half the forest?” “Yeah, probably,” Minerva replies, shrugging again, “All Pokémon Hunters tend to have their own little gimmicks, I’ve found. J has her weird petrification thing, Marauder had his Dark Balls, R has... well, me, among other things.” “Cool,” Jodi replies dryly, Minerva having to duck every now and then to avoid the lower branches. “You, uh... You want to get down? Branches are getting pretty low, and we’re close to the shrine,” she offers. Minerva nods sheepishly, hopping down from Jodi’s shoulders and holding her arm securely, earning a strange look from Jodi, “Let go.” “Why?” Minerva asks, Jodi frowning brusquely. “Because there’s nothing stopping you from just walking next to me.”

“Would you rather hold my hand, dear Jodi?”

“If I do, will you stop being annoying?”

“How am I being—“

“Interrupting me, primarily.”

“But I’ve barely done that!”

“You’ve done it enough.”

Minerva crosses her arms with a childish pout, Jodi smirking briefly as the pair continue to walk. “Walking with your arms crossed looks very weird, y’know,” she notes, earning a surly mutter from Minerva; “Quiet. I’m sulking.” She raises a brow at the Gardevoir, nodding after a few seconds. “You’re sulking,” she repeats, earning a rightfully sulky nod from Minerva. “I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a Pokémon sulk as badly as that,” she says with a slight chuckle, Minerva walking in silence before, after about twenty seconds, falling face-first into the ground. Jodi stops, looking at the face-planted Gardevoir with nothing short of absolute confusion. “Minerva?” She asks, kicking her side briefly. “I have reached the level of sulking at which I refuse to move. You’ll have to carry me,” she responds, her voice surprisingly clear for someone with their face in the grass... Oh, wait. Telepathy. It’s easy to forget about something like that, evidently. Jodi sighs wearily, kicking her again; “Minerva. Get up. I’m not going to carry you.” “Nah.” “Minerva.” “You’re gonna have to carry me.” “I’m not carrying you, Minerva.”

Even if her arms were crossed, Minerva continues to grin as she’s carried by Jodi. She was slung over her shoulder, which is pretty much what she was expecting; she still won, though, so there’s no reason not to grin. “I can’t believe I’m actually expending energy on this,” Jodi mutters, Minerva laughing smugly. “Yeah, neither can I. You’re such a pushover.” Grumbling, she continues to carry the Gardevoir, ducking to avoid a low-hanging branch — not low enough to avoid Minerva hitting her head, however. Rubbing the back of her head, Minerva looks back to poke the back of Jodi’s head once, twice, thrice, frice... is that even a word? Probably not. Jodi simply shrugs in response with a self-satisfied smile of her own. “You should’ve been watching out. You knew it was a danger.” Opening her mouth to protest, Minerva looks back to the branch that had hit her: it was pretty low. She could have avoided that. Win some, lose some; it doesn’t mean that she’s gracious in losing, though. “Oh, good. We’re here,” Jodi says, picking Minerva up and unceremoniously dropping her on to the grass. Grimacing lightly, Minerva rises to her feet; that hurt. It didn’t hurt that much, thankfully, but the sight helps.

It’s a clearing, but the canopy is still thick above, only letting a few sparse streams of light into the shrine’s abode. The clearing isn’t large, but neither is the simple wooden shrine: a modest shrine seems fitting for the forest guardian, or whatever Celery goes by these days. No, shut up, it’s Celery. Jodi sits down on a drier patch of grass, the lack of sun leaving the morning dew mostly undisturbed. What dew catches the sunlight is refracted, glistening like shards of a shattered rainbow. It’s nice. Minerva sits beside her, cross-legged, smiling contentedly at the serenity of the forest. There are a few chitters and bird-songs, but that’s it; no shouting, no screaming, nothing that she’s gotten used to after all of this time. Just... silence. She sighs, looking to Jodi after a minute or so; her eyes are shut. She seems content. If there’s anywhere in the region to feel true calm, then here certainly seems to be the place.

“I wonder if Celery’s around these parts nowadays,” Minerva murmurs, Jodi half-opens her eyes to look at her. “You mean Celebi.” “That’s what I said,” Minerva retorts, smirking softly, “Celery.” Jodi sighs, jabbing at Minerva briefly with her elbow. “Celebi. You’ve made me argue enough for today.” “Yeah, I guess I have,” she chuckles, looking down to the shattered rainbows on the grass, smiling absently. “I know I kind of just came out of nowhere, flirted with you, and am just a general annoyance, but thanks for bearing with me. This has actually been pretty nice.” Jodi takes a moment, idly winding her finger around a blade of grass. “You’re fine. It has been nice, weirdly,” she says, snapping the grass from its stalk. “I’m fine? Oh, how flattering of you,” Minerva jokes, earning another jab in the side. “Can you shut up for a minute? It’s rude to talk at a shrine; of Celebi, no less.” The Gardevoir nods, closing her eyes as she returns to listening to the forest.

”The Shrine of Celery.”

”I thought you were intelligent.”


End file.
